* Cargill takeover renews Chavez nationalization drive * Tightening control over food comes after some shortages * Chavez emboldened after referendum victory last month * Cargill "respectful," seeks talks to resolve situation (Adds Cargill statement, background, paragraphs 8-10, 13) By Patricia Rondon CARACAS, March 4 (Reuters) - President Hugo Chavez seized a unit of American food giant Cargill on Wednesday and threatened to take over Venezuela's largest private company, renewing a nationalization drive as the OPEC nation's oil income plunges. Chavez's clash with the food companies, demanding they produce cheaper rice, came less than three weeks after he won a referendum on allowing him to run for reelection and marked his first nationalization in seven months. "I warn you this revolution means business," said Chavez, whose government has struggled with lower oil income and minor food shortages this year. The anti-U.S. president, who has nationalized swaths of the economy, is popular among the poor for pressuring companies to produce cheap goods and for government programs that provide subsidized food in city slums. The moves to tighten the government's grip over the food supply were criticized by the private sector and many economists who say the state distorts the supply chain and contributes to food shortages. Chavez, an ally of communist Cuba, recently seized some rice mills belonging to Polar, Venezuela's largest private business, after accusing the food industry of skirting his price controls and failing to produce enough cheap rice. U.S. company Cargill [CARG.UL], which operates one rice mill in Venezuela, said earlier in the week it was expecting a visit from officials even though it does not produce the type of rice that is at the center of the dispute. Cargill said on Wednesday night it was "respectful" of the Venezuela decision but seeks talks to resolve the situation. "Cargill is committed to the production of food in Venezuela that complies with all laws and regulations," Cargill spokesman Mark Klein in Minneapolis, Minnesota, told Reuters. "Cargill expects the opportunity to clarify the situation with the government and is respectful of the Venezuelan government decision," Klein said. "The rice mill was designed exclusively to manufacture parboiled rice, which the company has done at this site for the last 7 years and elsewhere in the country for 13 years." Continued...UPDATE 4-Venezuela's Chavez seizes U.S. food giant unit
Saturday, 16 May 2009
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